Seattle Repertory Theatre News

Kandis Chappell and Melanie Lora take on the celebrated roles of Professor Ruth Steiner and Lisa Morrison in Donald Margulies? Collected Stories at South Coast Repertory. Margulies? Pulitzer Prize-nominated play about two women writers at opposite stages of their careers is one of SCR?s best-known commissions and has achieved worldwide success. Directed by Artistic Director Martin Benson, Collected Stories will run from May 15 through June 14, 2009 on the Segerstrom Stage. Low-priced previews are available from May 15 through May 21. Opening night is May 22. Press night is Saturday, May 23 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets to Collected Stories may be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or in person at the SCR box office.

Arden Theatre Company presents The Seafarer by Conor McPherson May 14 through June14, 2009. Broadway's recent Tony Awarding-winning hit features a collection of misfits playing poker on Christmas Eve in Ireland. A group of men, tied loosely together by their affiliation with misfortune, spend a boozy night playing poker.

National Corporate Theatre Fund (NCTF) held its Annual Chairman's Awards Gala and benefit on Monday, April 20 at New York's Cipriani's Pegasus (30 Rockefeller Plaza). This year, NCTF Chairman James S. Turley, Chairman & CEO of Ernst & Young, honored Jane Fonda (returning to Broadway this season in 33 Variations), producer John Breglio (the recent revival of A Chorus Line) and USA TODAY. Accepting the award on behalf of the USA TODAY was be Ed. Cassidy. All net proceeds of the event will be distributed as the NCTF/John Breglio Fund for New American Theatre.

National Corporate Theatre Fund (NCTF) will held its Annual Chairman's Awards Gala and benefit on Monday, April 20 at New York's Cipriani's Pegasus (30 Rockefeller Plaza). This year, NCTF Chairman James S. Turley, Chairman & CEO of Ernst & Young, honored Jane Fonda (returning to Broadway this season in 33 Variations), producer John Breglio (the recent revival of A Chorus Line) and USA TODAY. Accepting the award on behalf of the USA TODAY was be Ed. Cassidy. All net proceeds of the event will be distributed as the NCTF/John Breglio Fund for New American Theatre.

National Corporate Theatre Fund (NCTF) will hold its Annual Chairman's Awards Gala and benefit on Monday, April 20 at New York's Cipriani's Pegasus (30 Rockefeller Plaza). This year, NCTF Chairman James S. Turley, Chairman & CEO of Ernst & Young, will honor Jane Fonda (returning to Broadway this season in 33 Variations), producer John Breglio (the recent revival of A Chorus Line) and USA TODAY.

American Theater Company announces the addition of new performance dates for its hit production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask, directed by Artistic Director PJ Paparelli. The production has added four performances and is extended through May 31, 2009 at American Theater Company, 1909 W Byron in Chicago.

The Public Theater announced initial casting today for the Shakespeare in the Park production of TWELFTH NIGHT, directed by Daniel Sullivan and featuring the previously announced Anne Hathaway as Viola. TWELFTH NIGHT will run June 10-July 12 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park with an official press opening on Thursday, June 25 at 8 p.m. Bank of America will return as lead sponsor of Shakespeare in the Park 2009.

Due to overwhelming box office demand, Seattle Repertory Theatre will extend Carrie Fisher's autobiographical comedy Wishful Drinking, playing in the Bagley Wright Theatre, through May 9, 2009. Additional performances are Tuesday, May 5, 7:30 pm; Wednesday, May 6, 7:30 pm; Thursday, May 7, 7:30 pm; Friday, May 8, 7:30 pm; Saturday, May 9, 2 pm and 7:30 pm.

The Brown University Literary Arts Program and the Brown/Trinity Repertory Consortium are pleased to announce the second installment of the 27th annual NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL. A celebration of the diversity and strength of new theatrical voices, the NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL has been instrumental in bringing the work of America's finest emerging playwrights to life for nearly three decades.

Writers' Theatre Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma announce the World Premiere of A Minister's Wife, a new musical adapted from George Bernard Shaw's Candida, conceived and directed by Michael Halberstam with musical direction by Richard Casey. A Minister's Wife was adapted by Austin Pendleton with music by Joshua Schmidt and lyrics by Jan Tranen.

George Street Playhouse has announced full casting for New Year's Eve a world premiere from the pen of ARTHUR LAURENTS. George Street Playhouse Artistic Director DAVID SAINT will direct a starry cast comprised of WALTER BELENKY, KEITH CARRADINE, PETER FRECHETTE, MARLO THOMAS and NATASHA GREGSON WAGNER. New Year's Eve marks the ninth collaboration between Saint and Laurents at the New Brunswick Playhouse, and the return engagement of Ms. Thomas, who starred in Elaine May's Roger is Dead last season.

TimeLine Theatre Company, dedicated to presenting plays inspired by history that connect to today's social and political issues, announces three of the four plays of its 2009-10 season, including the Chicago premiere of Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention. A fourth play and the season's schedule are still to be announced.

American Theater Company (ATC) closes its highly successful Season 24 with a new production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, text by John Cameron Mitchell and music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, directed by Artistic Director PJ Paparelli with musical direction by Malcolm Ruhl. The production will run April 9 - May 17, 2009 at American Theater Company, 1909 W Byron St, Chicago. Press opening is Monday, April 13, 2009 at 7 p.m.

Hot on the heels of their smash-hit How? How? Why? Why? Why?, humorist, storyteller and NPR-contributor Kevin Kling returns to Seattle Rep with singer/accordionist Simone Perrin for the world premiere of a new collection of vignettes, stories and songs called Breakin' Hearts & Takin' Names. This time around, the two take on all things amore-from romantic dalliances, to brotherly love, to the joy of the human spirit.

The Brown University Literary Arts Program and the Brown/Trinity Repertory Consortium are pleased to announce the second installment of the 27th annual NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL. A celebration of the diversity and strength of new theatrical voices, the NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL has been instrumental in bringing the work of America's finest emerging playwrights to life for nearly three decades.

National Corporate Theatre Fund (NCTF) will hold its Annual Chairman's Awards Gala and benefit on Monday, April 20 at New York's Cipriani's Pegasus (30 Rockefeller Plaza). This year, NCTF Chairman James S. Turley, Chairman & CEO of Ernst & Young, will honor Jane Fonda (returning to Broadway this season in 33 Variations), producer John Breglio (the recent revival of A Chorus Line) and USA TODAY.

Even as it announces a new season filled with hot plays and another show bound for Broadway, Berkeley Repertory Theatre concludes its current season with the world premiere of a smart and sassy script featuring favorite local artists: You, Nero, a new comedy written by Amy Freed and directed by Sharon Ott, rules the Thrust Stage this spring. Starring Danny Scheie as the preposterous emperor of ancient Rome, You, Nero begins previews on May 15, opens May 20, and closes June 28.

Joyce Award-recipient Naomi Iizuka brings her tale of family ties, a lingering debt, mystical stories-and magical food-to the Goodman stage in her newest work, Ghostwritten, April 4 - May 3, 2009. Lisa Portes, who has shepherded this play from its first appearance at the 2007 New Stages Series, directs its world-premiere production with a cast of Chicago favorites led by Lisa Tejero (Mirror of the Invisible World and Metamorphoses) and Kim Martin-Cotten (King Lear).

She was the world's beloved Princess Leia in Star Wars, a daughter born to celebrity parents, and the wife of a famous musician. She could also have taken the title of 'walking controversy,' thanks largely to her partying past. This spring, iconic actress Carrie Fisher brings her dynamic spirit and real-life tale to Seattle Repertory Theatre as it presents Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking April 2 through May 3 at its Bagley Wright Theatre.

It's apocalypse now as the three cultural guerrillas of The Reduced Shakespeare Company set their reductive sites on The Bible. Can bolts of lightning be far behind?